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Genealogy Corner… FamilySearch Library Closes Permanently

Issue 14.17

Friday, March 31, 2017 marked the permanent closure of the St. George Family Search Library located at 162 North 400 East in St. George, Utah, above the Workforce Services Building. A new building is under construction and is located on the corner of 600 South and 200 East, one block south of the St. George LDS Temple. It will open in the summer of 2017, hopefully by the end of June.

The new 13,500-square-foot St. George Family History Center when open will be free to the public. It will be a first-of-its-kind Church family history center that will combine family friendly interactive technology with traditional genealogical research. The Church operated over 4,800 family history centers worldwide, but this one will be special.  The new center will include the FamilySearch Family History Discovery Experiences where you discover your family story in a whole new way.

To prepare for your visit you will need a FamilySearch account. The experiences at the Center use information from your FamilySearch account. If you don’t already have one, sign up now. It is free. https://familysearch.org/register/

In addition to listing the basic information about your family members in FamilySearch, be sure to include a few photos and stories. You’ll be glad you did. To upload, see https://familysearch.org/photos/

The new center is close to the temple. My friend, Brother Dennis C. Brimhall who was serving as the CEO of FamilySearch International at the time this new building was announced said: “It’s by no coincidence that we’re this close to the temple. An earlier site was chosen a bit further away, but there were delays. Every time it got delayed, this got closer to the temple.” He said. “Sometimes we say, ‘Why do things take so long’ Well, sometimes they take so long because the Lord is waiting for us to finally understand what He wants. He wanted it closer to the temple, and it couldn’t be a better location.”

Elder Allan F. Packer of the Seventy, said, “St. George is an area of firsts in the Church as pertaining to family history research and temples. The St. George Utah Temple was the first to be built and dedicated after the Mormon pioneers’ exodus from the East and settlement of the Utah territory in 1847.” It was dedicated in 1877. He said, “Thus it is fitting that this unique new building, designed from the ground up as a combination family discover center and family history research facility, would be built in St. George.

For more information, contact Shanna Jones shannasjones@msn.com (435) 628-4900.

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